Select the correct word to complete the following sentence.
When fire raged through the hamlet, loud cries _______ the air.
Answer & explanation
Correct answer: option 2
The correct answer is Option (2) → rent
Rend and its past tense:
- Rend means to tear apart violently; its forms are rend – rent – rent.
- "Cries rent the air" is a fixed expression: the cries were so loud that they seemed to tear the air.
- Two-step check: 1. meaning: the verb must mean "tear apart" (rend, not render or rent "pay for"); 2. tense: past, to match "raged".
- Deciding clue: "raged" shows that the event is in the past, so the past tense rent is needed.
- Complete sentence: When fire raged through the hamlet, loud cries rent the air.
Example: Shouts of joy rent the air when the team won.
Why the Other Options are Incorrect?
Option 1: rend — Incorrect. Rend is the base (present) form; it does not agree with the past tense "raged".
Example: The news seemed to rend her heart.
Option 3: render — Incorrect. Render means to give or provide, or to cause to become; cries cannot render the air.
Example: The storm rendered the roads useless.
Option 4: rented — Incorrect. Rented is the past tense of the verb rent (to pay for the use of something), a different verb with a different meaning.
Example: They rented a flat near the station.
Contrast: rend – rent – rent means to tear apart; rent – rented – rented means to pay for the use of something.